Galaxy S10+ USB audio output to Volvo Bowers and Wilkins

[Swanky]

Hi folks, got a burning question I was hoping to get some advice on. I just got a 2019 Volvo that has a nice Bowers and Wilkins sound system in it, but I'm struggling to get good audio quality to it from my Samsung Galaxy S10+.

The car has a built in Spotify app that sounds amazing even though they still don't support lossless audio. The problem with it is that it's stream-only, you can't download the music like you can on a phone or computer.

I can connect my phone via USB/Android Auto to use Spotify or Amazon Music Unlimited, but I'm losing quality and having trouble pinpointing what the issue might be. I checked all the obvious things like audio settings on the phone but haven't had any luck improving it. I think the S10+ outputs at 16 bit/48kHz but I'm not sure if this even affects USB audio or not. I thought about grabbing a cheap LG v20 or similar to try the output with that, but wondering if anyone has any suggestions that I might be overlooking.

Sorry for the novel - tl;dr fancy sound system in car sounds great with internal app but not as good with phone audio through USB. Any help is greatly appreciated, TIA!

 

[Rottmannash]

I have the S10+. You probably know this but the phone won't go full volume the first time you try to turn the volume all the way up- there will be a pop-up that warns you might damage your hearing and asks if you're sure you want to go full volume. Are you using BT or the HP jack?

 

[Swanky]

I have the S10+. You probably know this but the phone won't go full volume the first time you try to turn the volume all the way up- there will be a pop-up that warns you might damage your hearing and asks if you're sure you want to go full volume. Are you using BT or the HP jack?

Hi, thanks for the reply. The connection to the car is a straight USB-C to USB-A. When it's connected like that the volume controls on the phone are disabled, it just outputs at a set volume. I'm not certain what an HP jack is but I haven't bothered with Bluetooth since the USB connection should theoretically be way better. The car also doesn't have any aux input so no 3.5mm etc.

 

[Rottmannash]

Ah. Didn't know it didn't have a 3.5 mm input. HP is headphone. So the volume sliders don't do anything when using C>A?

 

[Swanky]

Oh, that makes sense haha. Yeah the volume control on phone is completely disabled when connected via USB. It doesn't really seem to be a volume issue to me, it's about the same loudness as the built in app when the car volume is set the same. The other thing that I'm wondering about is Android Auto, I don't know if that is interfering with it somehow. It's definitely different from just being a straight USB audio connection since it pretty much let's you run the phone apps on the cars computer.

I'm currently copying over some FLAC songs over to a USB drive to see what that sounds like, hopefully that will at least narrow down whether the issue is with the phone or the USB connection to the car.

 

[Rottmannash]

I've never used Android Auto so can't help with that. Good luck!